Jacob Groves knew he had a big day ahead of him.
The senior forward finished with a career-high 26 points, shooting 10-for-13 from the field and 4-for-6 from 3-point range. Jacob’s offensive performance bolstered Oklahoma (8-3) to an emphatic 87-66 win over Central Arkansas (5-6) on Saturday in Norman.
After scoring four and seven points in his two previous outings against Kansas City and Arkansas, respectively, Jacob was ready for a breakthrough performance against the Bears.
“I've been waiting for the day like that to come,” Jacob said. “It's hard. And sometimes your day just comes and you're hitting shots, and you're making plays. My teammates do a great job of finding me when I'm hot, giving me the ball and putting me in positions where I can score. I guess today was just my day today.”
Missing his first two shots with 16:53 left in the first half, Jacob noticed the Bears’ defense sagging off of him on the perimeter early in the game. He exploited their coverage and made seven straight shots for a team-high 19 points at halftime.
“Everything worked (for me today),” Jacob said. “I was posting up a little bit, but I don't really know what they were doing on defense. I was wide open underneath the rim quite a bit today, which was lucky.
“I was just wide open and I was like… ‘wow, you guys are gonna leave me that open. we're gonna have a day.’ ”
Despite his dominant offensive performance, Jacob was also pivotal on the defensive end. He finished with three steals, one of which ended with a one-handed jam with 3:20 left in the first half.
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OU coach Porter Moser challenged Jacob to find consistent offensive production and the senior forward answered the call. Outside of senior guard Grant Sherfield and freshman guard Milos Uzan, who combined for 38 points in the loss against Arkansas, there was only one player who scored double digits on Dec. 10.
“You know what I loved? He missed his first one, and then it didn't affect him,” Moser said. “He got a couple easy ones inside then he got outside. He's just playing with a lot of confidence.”
Sooners contribute by committee
Sherfield, senior forward Tanner Groves and junior forward Sam Godwin and freshman guard Otega Oweh were major contributors in OU’s win. The four combined for 49 points, shooting 21-for-29 from the field
Sherfield, who finished with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, helped bring life to the Sooners’ offense after Central Arkansas went on a 7-0 run with 7:43 remaining in the first half. The senior guard nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, extending the Sooners’ lead to 14 points with 6:35 left in the half.
Sherfield said postgame he feels the Sooners are finding their rhythm on offense. .
“Everything's flowing well, and the guys are making shots,” Sherfield said. “Everybody on our team puts in a lot of work and puts a lot of time in on our games. And so I feel like that's all that’s working.”
Godwin and Groves dominated in the frontcourt, combining for 22 points in the paint and grabbing nine boards.
Oweh finished with a career-high 10 points and two steals on a 5-for-5 clip. Alongside Oweh, Uzan dished nine assists.
Sherfield is excited to get the former four-star recruits more involved as conference play lingers on the horizon.
“Milos is a pass first guy,” Sherfield said. “He doesn't have to score a basket and he’ll still have a smile on his face. And that just shows how mature he is as a player. I mean, he finds guys like me, Jake and Tanner. I mean, he's just great overall.
“Oweh had his best game of the year this year, and he went hard every rep and practice this week. I mean, you can just show the growth that he's had all season and I'm just happy he can be able to display how well he is (playing) on defense.”
Defense dominates
Central Arkansas struggled against the Sooners’ imposing defense.
The Bears finished the game shooting 25-for-56 from the field, while going 11-for-34 from 3-point range. The Sooners also forced 13 turnovers and had one rejection.
Moser is excited about the defensive consistency because it creates opportunities on the offensive end. OU scored 12 points off of turnovers against the Bears.
“I was pleased with that,” Moser said. “I thought we manufactured a couple pieces of our defense. We say defense creates offense. Jacob Groves even got some steals today. So it’s about just denying (some of that stuff).”
Injury updates
Moser offered injury updates following the conclusion of OU’s win.
Sophomore forward Yaya Keita is out for the season with a shin injury that will require surgery and freshman guard Benny Schröder is day-to-day with a grade one ankle sprain.
“Yaya’s going into surgery for his shin,” Moser said. “Benny, he has a grade one ankle sprain. Hopefully it's short. It’s day to day, but he turned it a couple days ago in practice, and he wasn't able to push off on it. So we didn't dress him. But Benny’s is short term, and Yaya’s long term.”
Uzan, despite starting and playing, is dealing with an ankle injury. The freshman guard turned it in practice this week, but he was still able to start versus the Bears.
“He played at 80% today,” Moser said. “He turned it (in practice), and when he went down we thought it was gonna be long term. it's one of those screams and practice and you hear a pin drop everyone was like he was he rolled that ankle and, you know, last two days, he's been icing it and trying to get that thing going. So for him to come out still have nine assists.. thought he did a good job with that.”
Next, Oklahoma will face Florida (7-4) at 8:30 p.m. CT on Dec. 20 at the Jumpman Events Invitational in Charlotte.
